Old Stomping Grounds and Old Friends

The next stop on our Christmas market adventure was Trier. We love Trier, it's the first German city we explored and it's actually the first Christmas market we ever went to way back in 2000 or 2001. We've been to Trier's Christmas market at least three or four times now and it never disappoints. Next to Kaiserslautern, there's no market we've been to more so Trier was definitely a familiar place.


Trier's Porta Nigra, or Black Gate, was built by the Romans in 200 AD. So yeah, Trier's a pretty old place. Just past the Porta Nigra is the main square in town, the cathedral, and the Christmas Market!


We arrived at the market just as the sun was starting to set and made our way to the place we always go first in Trier - the Bratkartoffeln stand. The roasted potatoes in Trier are the very best we've tried and they were the perfect warm and filling way to start the night.



Of course, we did some of our favorite things to do at Christmas markets -  drink Kindergluhwein, eat crepes, eat waffles, eat bratwurst, eat dampfnudeln, and ride the carousel. Basically, it's all about the food with a quick break for riding the carousel. In between all of the eating we walked every inch of the market. I wanted to make sure we looked at every single stand in Trier searching for some very specific Christmas ornaments. The first time we came to this Christmas market fifteen or so years ago we bought some simple wooden ornaments that are some of my very favorites. I've been kicking myself ever since for not buying more because I've never seen them again in Trier or at any of the other markets we've been to. This year was no different, we still can't find those ornaments!


The market in Trier spreads out from the main square to the another square by the cathedral. We spend the rest of the evening in this second square, which was much less crowded than the main square and really just beautiful. There was Christmas music playing the cathedral standing at one end of the square was a perfect backdrop and everything was blanketed in sparkling Christmas lights.  Eventually we had to admit that we'd seen and eaten everything there was to see and eat in Trier so we headed back to the car and drove to Spangdahlem to spend the night with our friends the Bowens.

We lived in Spangdahlem from 2000-2003 but we didn't meet the Bowen family until we moved to Ramstein in 2008. Jared and Mark Bowen served together when Jared was Stake Young Men's President and Mark was a member of the Stake Presidency. They would often drive together to ward conferences and we've been friends ever since. Mark and Karen and their family are amazing - fun, kind, smart, and so very welcoming. I think they might just be the couple Jared and I aspire to be someday. The Bowens are the best - they made room for us in their home and time for us in their busy schedule. Almost as soon as we left their house, they were on their way to the Netherlands for a week. I don't know many other people who would welcome company the day before a weeklong vacation.


We stayed up late laughing and playing card games together - another great thing about the Bowens is their knowledge of games. We've now learned two great card games from them that we've shared with other friends and play often at home. After way too few hours of sleep we were up and enjoying a delicious breakfast of waffles, pancakes, hash browns, sausage, AND bacon. Karen even showed me her amazing Bernina embroidery machine and let me actually use it to make a lovely Christmas hand towel.  Seriously, it was such a great visit even though we were only together for a little over twelve hours.

There are some thing about military life that aren't so fun, but one big blessing of this life that we love, love, love is the chance it's given us to make so many absolutely amazing friends. It's a sad when we have to move away but it's so wonderful when we have the opportunity to see each other again.

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